Greta Van Fleet

I’m not the kind of guy who thinks there is going to be a next version of a historically great person in another person. That is to say this: The media is always touting someone new to the scene to be the next version of someone or some group that has already exited the scene.

Sportscasters have wanted to know if Kobe or Lebron was going to be the next Michael or if Rory or Jordan was going to be the next Tiger.

There have been a number of bands whom someone has predicted would be the “next Zeppelin,” among them being Bonham, Zebra, Kingdom Cone, and even Guns n Roses.

There are a few things I’m certain of in this life, and one of them is this: Not one of the predictions about anybody becoming the next version of someone else ever came true. Anytime a pundit begged the question, “Could so and so become the next so and so?” the answer was no.

Nor is Greta Van Fleet going to be the next Zeppelin. Still, if you’re going to ask such an asinine question about, or make some bold prediction concerning, a band, you could find a worse band than this one; they sound more like Zeppelin in one song–“Hjghway Tune”– then all of those other bands have in their combined library.

The only downside is that there’s just not much of the music right now. Unless you get your hands on an out of date EP, there are only four songs currently available. Those are the four songs from the band’s recent EP, Black Smoke Rising. The title track and the aforementioned “Highway Tune,” as well as “Safari Song” and “Flower Power” can all be heard on YouTube. The four-song collection–three of which might fool someone into believing they’re lost Zeppelin tracks–has not been released outside of the digital realm to this point.

I’d love to hear your impressions.